2026 Singapore Grand Prix Race Review

Linus O'Howell

10 minutes ago

3 min read

Verstappen Goes Back-to-Back with Dominant Singapore Victory

After finally winning a week ago, Max Verstappen rolled back the years to go back-to-back with his first-ever victory in the Singapore Grand Prix! Charles Leclerc came home second for Ferrari, whilst Andrea Kimi Antonelli found a way to round out the Podium as he moves even closer to his record-breaking first World Championship!

The Biggest Talking Points

Charles Leclerc got a great launch off the line, but despite this, it was still Max Verstappen who was able to lead out of Turn 2, whilst Nico Hulkenberg got a great start to move up into 8th! The Race then became a bit of a procession, with no one really able to overtake, whilst the Virtual Safety Car, which was brought out due to a failure for Gabriel Bortoleto’s Audi, was simply too early for anyone to stop! In fact, the first driver to pit was Lewis Hamilton, who started pushing like crazy on a set of soft tyres, to the point where he came out just behind teammate Leclerc after Charles pitted! For some reason, despite having their two drivers on different strategies, Ferrari never switched the two around; a decision that definitely cost Lewis time! Franco Colapinto would then suffer a mechanical retirement, whilst a clutch issue for Lance Stroll was enough to bring out a second VSC! Unbelievably, Ferrari pit Leclerc, not Hamilton, whilst Mercedes would also bring in Andrea Kimi Antonelli for a second time! George Russell, who was hoping to come out in P7, got incredibly unlucky with the timing of when the Virtual Safety Car ended, meaning he only came out in 10th, whilst Oscar Piastri would suffer a slow puncture just a lap after the green flags were thrown!

As expected, Lewis Hamilton’s pace completely died off, to the point where he lost places to Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and even Oscar Piastri! Hamilton’s hard-battling against Norris would actually allow Kimi Antonelli into third, despite having multiple issues with track limits, whilst George Russell wasn’t even able to overtake Nico Hulkenberg for P8, finishing just 1 place ahead of Isack Hadjar, who managed to recover to claim the final point! I’ll be very honest, this was not a great Race!

The Standout Drives in the Race

I’ve given out three 10’s for the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix, and the first one is obviously for Max Verstappen! Max completely smashed it today, leading every single lap as he moves within just 17 points off P2 in the Drivers’ Standings! The second driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Liam Lawson, who we haven’t even spoken about yet! That’s because we barely saw Liam, as he just drove his Race to finish P7; best of the rest once again! What a fantastic season Lawson is having! And the final driver I’ve given a Perfect 10 to is Nico Hulkenberg, who I believe deserves this after holding off George Russell to record Audi’s joint-best finish of the season! Also, Hulkenberg deserves a ton of praise for finally getting a good start! Elsewhere, Charles Leclerc drove pretty well today, whilst Andrea Kimi Antonelli extended his Championship lead to over 100 points!

Drivers Who Had a Shocker

I’ve given out one 1 for today’s Race, and that has to be for Valtteri Bottas! I’m sorry, but Valtteri Bottas has been utterly useless this season, with him nearly getting lapped by his Cadillac teammate Sergio Perez today! In fact, Alex Albon DNF’d on the final lap, and yet Bottas still finished behind him, as he was another lap behind! Awful! Elsewhere, Alex Albon himself wasn’t very good, whilst Arvid Lindblad had a massive off day, especially when you compare him to where his teammate finished! Aston Martin were also pretty disappointing, with Lance Stroll suffering his 12th DNF of the season! Oh, and finally, what on earth were Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari doing?!